Chapter 16


Key Terms:
in binder

Questions:



Define: 12/16/10

What is meant by the Far West?


- The far West seems like any area west of the U.S that is uninhabited and not settled by the American people.
  • includes: plains, forests, land that wasn't being used, deserts
  • West of the Mississippi River
  • people: Mexicans, Chinese (Asians) French, British Canadians
  • diverse land: climates, geography
  • land of opportunity

What is the frontier?

- In my opinion it's definitely a part of the Far West, but in regards to the lands that were actually useful in terms of constructing communities and raising crops and cattle. We'd say the frontier was more of an idea/concept in the Far West (as it's mentioned in Cowboy culture), than an act\ual area/location.
  • seen as: the next step of settlement, also a place of opportunity
  • unsettled, adventure, fresh beginnings, prosperity
  • lands not fully utilized/settled

frontier = idea of what's next, land that hasn't been explored or settled, idea of adventure + mystery, possibility/opportunity

railroad (man-made technology) + buffalo (natural resource) + Chinese (foreign labor group) = connected to the Far West

external image 16.Once-Upon-a-Time-in-the-West-1969_imagelarge.jpgexternal image how_the_west_was_won_screenshot.png


Myth + Reality Chart Discussion: 12/17/10

Myth:
  • cowboys: adventurous, exciting, successful, shooting at Native Americans
  • mining = get rich quick
  • West = uncivilized+bearen Mid-west, a regular climate
  • land was free, easy to obtain, easy to be successful with

Reality:
  • often boring, low-paid, lonely
  • mining = low success rates
  • West = already consisted of many civilizations/societies, diverse land + climates
  • land was hard to maintain, if economic times got worse they'd have to abandon their land and move on

Chapter 17 Preview: Industrial Supremacy

- the 2nd Industrial Revolution (1851 - 1906)
- post Civil War, late 19th-century
- machines, new products, new inventions: the birth of modern industry (types of industries such as oil, automobiles; types of businesses/corporations)
- The birth of: Modern American Capitalism
external image Montage_Ford.jpgexternal image IM.1049_zl.jpgexternal image industrial-revolution-children.gif

  • Oil: Rise of the Petroleum Industry
  • Automobiles: Henry Ford
  • Steel: New Stee Production Techniques, Pitsburgh
  • Business - Corporations, Rapid Corp. Consolidation
  • Social Darwinism - Survival of the Fittest, Justifying the Status Quo
  • Opposition to Female Employment
  • the Self-Made Man + the Myth of the Self-Made Man
  • Andrew Carnegie (steel), John Rockefeller (oil), J.P. Morgan (Financial consolidation/help)


12/21/10: